january ‘23 book reviews
welcome to the new year dear readers! i’ve got big goals for the book nook this year and part of it starts with tracking reads on goodreads (let’s be friends here!) with 75 books as my target, i got busy in january — take a look:
the dinner list by rebecca serle
rating: 4.5/5
have you ever been asked the question, “who are five people you’d like to have dinner with, dead or alive?” i’m sure many of us have. when sabrina walks into her birthday dinner, she finds just that. surrounding her are audrey hepburn, her deceased father, her ex-boyfriend, her favorite college professor and her best friend. stunned is an understatement. is this real? over the course of dinner, and re-told in chapters that spans a decade, sabrina learns why she’s getting the chance to dine with her five. i absolutely loved this read but it was much sadder than i anticipated. the storytelling is fantastic.
the queen: her life by andrew morton
rating: 4/5
after reading the dinner list, i thought about my own list of guests i’d love to dine with. taking the first spot has always been queen elizabeth. i am so fascinated with the royal family and knowing that andrew morton wrote this biography (you may remember his “tell-all” with princess di) i tore into this. it wasn’t a groundbreaking read. i knew most of the details of her life through reading different royal biographies and watching the crown & other documentaries (like i said, obsessed). what i enjoyed was morton’s description of the crown through the years — how queen elizabeth adapted with the changing times and struggled to tow the line of mother (+ grandmother) and leader of the commonwealth. they are like any family really, who bicker and fight and have drama. their titles just put them on an international stage.
the love hypothesis by ali hazelwood
rating: 2/5
the love hypothesis was a 2022 book of the year finalist for botm and i was eager to read this. the plot is something you’d expect from a juicy rom-com; two scientists fake-date to get everyone to lay off their backs & end up developing feelings. the first 200 or so pages of this book is such a slow burn and there is so much chemistry (pun intended) — so many moments you want to scream “kiss!!!!” it keeps you on the edge of you seat in such a sweet way. however, the steamy scenes towards the end were SO cringe. it felt so out of character for olive and adam, that it ruined the rest of the book for me. all that being said, i really enjoyed that the story was not your typical setting. it spoke a lot about academia & women in stem!
the fortunes of jaded women by carolyn huynh
rating: 4/5
carolyn huynh hits the nail on the head with family drama — it can be ugly, vindictive and cruel. but family is forever. enter the du’o’ng sisters, a vietnamese dynasty in orange county’s little saigon, famous for being cursed. the loud and boisterous family hasn’t always been close. in fact, mai nguyen hasn’t spoken to her sisters in a decade. and mai’s daughter priscilla hasn’t reached out in over a year since their last fight. if mai wants to turn the family curse around, she’s going to have to let go of grudges, which appears to be no easy feat as the stubborn du’o’ng women hold onto grievances like it’s an olympic sport. huynh speaks about the vietnamese diaspora in the united states with painful & humbling anecdotes, but in the end it’s an utterly relatable story to people everywhere.
every summer after by carley fortune
rating: 5/5
i picked up this book without even reading the back cover because it was all booktok could yammer on about — but i’m so glad i did. i’m going to make a bold claim and say that this will be in my top five for 2023. it is breathtaking. life for thirteen-year-old percy takes an exciting turn when her family buys a cottage on a stunning canadian lake. next door are two boys she quickly befriends; charlie who’s bold, assertive & yes, sometimes annoying and shy sam, who’s intelligent, funny and cute. as sam & percy’s relationship deepens, so does the realities of long distance. over the course of six summers, you get little anecdotes of their life on the lake. something has happened between them though because twelve years later, when charlie & sam’s mother passes, it’s charlie that calls percy who urges her to come home. can she face sam? what happened between them all those years ago? and more importantly, does he still love her like she loves him? i am still squealing on my couch after finishing this.
the hunting wives by may cobb
alex’s rating: 4.5/5
if i had to describe this book in one word it would most definitely be scandalous! a group of elite women in texas form a unique bond when they gather every friday for their hunting club. the drink chardonnay and go skeet shooting at a lakeside property, miles away from their husbands & lives. after, the sneak away to hole-in-the-wall bars to pick up guys. sophie, the new girl, isn’t sure how she feels about this, but she does know one thing — margot, the ringleader, has an incredible aura around her. is she developing a crush? this is barely scratches the surface as murders and affairs run the gamut in this salacious novel.
secluded cabin sleeps six by lisa unger
rating: 3/5
this book takes ghost stories and expands them into full fledged nightmares. secluded cabin sleeps six is a terrifying novel about a weekend away with family. but how well do you know your family? and what secrets lie behind closed doors? three couples travel to this secluded cabin for a relaxing, unplugged vacation and it turns into an all out horror flick when a storm causes the power to go out. while it was a page turning thriller, i lost interest in the last 100 pages. one person’s vendetta just didn’t make a ton of sense to me. all in all, if you’re in a spooky mood, this book is a good escape.
before the coffee gets cold by toshikazu kawaguchi
rating: 4.5/5
what would you do if you could go back in time? before the coffee gets cold is based on that one question. there’s a small cafe in tokyo that’s hardly ever busy (there’s only nine places to sit anyways so it would get crowded quickly), but legend has it that the cafe allows you to go back in time. there are rules of course; you can only meet someone who has visited the cafe, going back does not allow you to change the present, only one seat allows for time-travel and you must remain in the seat, and last but most important, you can only stay as long as the coffee is warm. the book tells a handful of stories from someone wanting to see their ex-boyfriend to someone wanting to see their husband before alzheimer’s took over. it’s a somber and quick read, and one that makes you cherish the time you do have just a little more.
summer of ‘69 by elin hilderbrand
rating: 4/5
i’m sure you’re singing the bryan adams’ song in your head as you read this review. the summer of ‘69 was a standout year in american history; we sent man to the moon (though arguing my opinion in this would take too long.) it was also a difficult time as civil rights protests divided the country. thirteen-year-old jessie levin navigates summer with her mother & grandmother on nantucket while her brother tiger is fighting in the vietnam war, her oldest sister blair is pregnant and her other sister kirby is working at an inn on nearby martha’s vineyard. in other words, she’s completely alone. the complicated family dynamic is tested during the highs and lows of the summer but one things certain, family is family. this was a fantastic read & escape to a summer on nantucket.
the paris bookseller by kerri maher
rating: 3.5/5
had you asked my opinion of this book before i read the author’s note, i would have said it was just alright. it’s the story of an american in paris who opens a bookstore and publishes a banned book in the 1920s. at times i felt this was slow and lacked direction, but it’s not a story. it’s sylvia beach’s life. shakespeare and company was a popular hang out among gertrude stein, ernest hemingway and james joyce, and when sylvia started the bookstore & lending library, she had no clue the impact it would have on the literary world. it tells the story of perseverance during a very troubling time in world history, as the great wars and the depression wreaked havoc on paris. it’s an important novel that narrates the consequences of censorship and significance of freedom of speech.
what was your favorite book this month?